Afghan air corridor for cargo to resume next week

The Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Investment (ACCI) deputy head said Thursday that Afghanistan’s international air corridor for cargo will resume next week.

Mohammad Younis Mohmand told Ariana News the first flight will carry pine nuts.

The ACCI however continues to criticize Pakistan over its treatment of Afghan businessmen and called for issues to be resolved at the Torkham and Spin Boldak land ports.

Mohmand also blasted the United States for holding Afghanistan’s foreign reserves “hostage”.

He said this was a matter of grave concern as it directly affected the country’s economy.

Mostly all economic activity in the country came to a grinding halt almost two months ago when the former government collapsed.

Now however, with a vastly improved security situation, the export of Afghan produce via air corridors will resume, he said.

“Flights are ready, InshAllah (God Willing), maybe in four or five days the first cargo flight abroad will take place,” said Mohmand.

On the issue of treatment of Afghan businessmen by Pakistan, Mohmand called for good relations between both sides.

“Relations are not good. We call for mutual respect in all economic sectors with all our friends and neighbors in order to improve the economic situation,” Mohmand added.

Mohmand meanwhile said the freezing of Afghan assets by the US was an extremely serious situation and that the continuation of this will exacerbate the economic crisis in the country.

“We demand the release of Afghan money. Our banking system is in trouble because of this money and all major projects have stopped,” Mohmand added.

He also called for the banking system to be normalized and said the process of trade and investment was dependent on reliable banking activities.